Prostatitis is a highly prevalent disease for men. While acute prostatitis is commonly caused by bacterial infection, most patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) have no evidence of urinary tract infection. Moreover, a significant proportion of men can have non-infectious chronic prostatitis in the form of asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis that is diagnosed on prostate biopsy performed to evaluate for prostate cancer. CPPS is in fact the most common non-malignant diagnosis in patients being evaluated for elevated serum levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), a biomarker used to screen for prostate cancer. The diagnosis of this syndrome currently relies on reported pain in the perineum, rectum, and/or prostate by affected men. CPPS often relapses and remits without clear triggers. Therapy for CPPS is non-specific and usually involves empiric treatment with antibiotics of unclear efficacy. The etiology of CPPS is unknown.
Spontaneous prostatitis has been described in several aged rat strains and even in the aged nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice, but the mechanism by which these strains render the host susceptible to prostatitis is unclear. To date, none of the prostate antigens identified in these mouse models has been shown to be relevant for the human disease.
There is a need in the art for improved methods for diagnosing CPPS.